The widow of martyred intellectual Dr Abu Taher, Bhanu Bibi testified Wednesday that Mobarak Hossain along with Pakistani armed forces abducted Dr Taher, and tortured him to death in a razakar camp.
The prosecution witness from Brahmanbaria’s Tanmandail said she saw the accused take away her husband, but heard about the torture and deaths at the camp from her father-in-law, who was also abducted but released.
Bhanu Bibi was cross examined by defence counsel Ahsanul Haque, who said the witness had given a “false statement in a false case in exchange for money and under the provocation of prosecution witnesses, fake Pir Daru Mia and Abdul Hamid.”
Dr Taher’s widow denied the allegations.
After Bhanu Bibi’s deposition and cross examination, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 (ICT 1) asked for the next witness to be placed, but the prosecution was unprepared.
The tribunal therefore set September 11 to hear depositions from the next prosecution witnesses in the case against Mobarak Hossain.
Mobarak Hossain is facing five charges of crimes against humanity, which include abductions and deaths in Shyampur, killing 33 people in Akhaura and torturing Ashuranjan Dev at a razakar camp.
According to the prosecution, after the war Mobarak was a member of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Akhaura union unit, later he joined the Awami League but he was expelled from the party two years ago.
Bhanu Bibi, the ninth prosecution witness, said: “On fifth of Bhadra [fifth Bangla month] of 1971 Mobarak Ali came to the house to say a meeting of the Peace Committee would be held at our home. He asked my husband, his elder brother Abul Bashar and my father-in-law Haji Nur Bux to attend the meeting. He also threatened that they would have to suffer if they did not attend.”
She said later that afternoon, over 130 people arrived for the meeting when Mobarak with members of the Pakistani army and razakars took away all those who came for the meeting.
Bhanu Bibi said: “They were taken to Ganga Sagar camp and tortured brutally. I heard from my father-in-law who was freed by the Pakistani army because he had performed Hajj.”
She said Nur Bux told her that the army killed his sons - her husband and her brother-in-law, and two of their uncles, as well as at least 31 others on the western side of the Ganga Sagar camp.
Dr Taher’s widow said that her husband and his elder brother had been targeted because they were involved with the Awami League, and that three or four days before Mobarak took them away, the two men had helped freedom fighters destroy a bridge called Tin Lakh Pir. Chairman of ICT 1, Justice ATM Fazle Kabir was not present in court Wednesday.
